Obstacles still hinder irrigation in Alabama

What is in this article?:

• Although data suggest that a major expansion of irrigation on Alabama’s farmland would significantly boost profit margins and agriculture’s impact on the state, growers said in a recent survey that too many obstacles still stand between them and adopting irrigation technology.

More About:

Alabama row-crop farmers have historically been considered “under-irrigated,” especially when compared to their counterparts in neighboring states like Georgia, Florida and Mississippi.

And while the state, on average, receives abundant rainfall each year, precipitation is often inconsistent during the summer months, when plants need it the most.

Although data suggest that a major expansion of irrigation on Alabama’s farmland would significantly boost profit margins and agriculture’s impact on the state, growers said in a recent survey that too many obstacles still stand between them and adopting irrigation technology.

Currently it’s estimated that only about 10 percent of the state’s farmland is irrigated.

The survey — conducted by the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station — randomly asked small, medium and large-scale irrigating and non-irrigating farmers what they considered to be their largest obstacles to adopting or expanding current irrigation capabilities.

Not surprisingly, the primary barrier was financial, including the costs of installing, improving and powering irrigation systems, the inability to finance such systems, and concerns that irrigation wouldn’t pay for itself.

The survey was conducted to give policymakers, farmers and others a greater understanding of how irrigation adoption affects the prosperity of Alabama farms, says Joseph Molnar, Auburn University rural sociologist and lead author for the study.

Annual rainfall in Alabama averages more than 48 inches, according to Molnar, but even in areas with abundant rainfall, drought stress can begin shortly after a rain or irrigation in soils such as those found in the Piedmont region of the state.

“Alabama agriculture has new possibilities for growth and stabilization through the implementation of irrigation,” says Molnar. But the survey suggests that farmers view water constraints and economics of irrigation as central barriers to implementing or expanding its use.

An interesting finding of the survey is that all operators reported facing “information limitations” that impeded the use of irrigation in their farming systems.

“The diversity of Alabama terrain, fields shapes and hydrology frequently requires technical assessment that may be difficult to provide in an era when the number of qualified providers may be declining,” says Molnar.

Public agencies can assist in siting wells and water storage ponds, but matching irrigation systems to specific farm situations often takes more comprehensive planning and is difficult to complete in a single year, he says.

“Thus, farmers often take a partial and incremental approach based on the water they have, or can get, and the investment they are willing to make,” according to the study.

Installation costs were the most frequently cited obstacle to implementing or improving irrigation, 64 percent overall.

"Lack of a reliable source of water was a barrier for 44 percent of all respondents, with more medium-size and large operations considering this as a barrier."

Not surprisingly, Alabama is the only state in the region which does not have a statewide water management plan. Irrigating in Alabama is like mining in the old wild west. Who ever has the upstream land or the biggest pump controls the water. Period. There is no system to provide the water to everyone who needs it so investing in the infrastructure it simply too risky.